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Hinduism The majority of the people are Hindus and Hinduism
is the strange amalgam of differing beliefs, some even contradictory. But most
believe in the holy word, the Om. Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism are also called the
Om kaar religions because they too believe in the sanctity of Om. The river
Ganges is held sacred and Varansi is the holiest of the holy centers. It is believed that Hinduism developed as a result
of the mixing of the Dravidian and Aryan influence. Hinduism is the world's
third largest religion after Christianity and Islam but uniquely it has no
single founder, no church hierarchy and no central authority. One cannot become
a Hindu; you have to be born to the faith. Therefore there is no proselytizing
like Christianity or Islam. Worshipping
a million Gods
There are about 330 million deities in Hindu religion
at last count. You might be bewildered at the numerous changing gods and
goddesses from region to region but for Indians all these don't make much of a
difference because they know under the pictures the spirit is the same. Hindus
revere the four Vedas, which have an antiquity that goes back to the fertility
rites of the Dravidians and the nature worship of the Aryans. The Dharma Shastra
were more in use by the lay people. These are basically codes of moral and
social conduct and describe the various obligations of man according to his
status in life. The most important religious epics for the Hindus are the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the longest epics in the world.
Our Gods and Goddesses
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Copyright LPS USA Organized 1989
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